Tuesday, August 12, 2014

George Nicholaw, best known for his work as
General Manager of KNX (1070 AM), passed away on Saturday August 9th at his
home. He was 86.

He started his tenure with CBS -- The Columbia
Broadcasting System as it was known at the time -- in 1955. In 1967 he was named
General Manager of CBS Radio’s KNX; in 1968 he oversaw the station’s move to all
news from it’s previous format of news and entertainment-oriented
programs.

He remained as manager at the station until
2003, the longest tenure of any manager of any news station in the United
States.

It was not an amicable separation, however.
Infinity Broadcasting, which had bought CBS Radio and its radio stations
previously (later the company would take on the CBS Radio name again), brought
Patrick Duffy into a new position at the station: vice president and marketing
manager for KNX and sister station KRTH. Nicholaw’s position was then
eliminated, though he was offered another position at a lower
salary.

Instead of accepting the lower position, Nichlaw
sued Infinity Broadcasting, claiming age discrimination. He lost the suit when
an LA Superior Court judge concluded that there was no case.

During his long run as GM, KNX was one of the
most honored news stations in the industry with more awards per year than any
other. Over 170 Golden Mike Awards, the Peabody Award, the National Association
of Broadcaster’s Crystal Award, any many more.

He also kept up the tradition of daily
editorials, once a mainstay of radio but seldom heard after the beginning of
deregulation. Nicholaw believed they were important and kept them on the air --
voiced by himself -- until he left the station in 2003. I don’t believe the
station has aired an editorial since.

Don Barrett of LARadio.Com says that Nicholaw was “one of the
smartest and nicest Los Angeles Radio People ever.” Barrett dedicated the August
11th edition of LARadio.Com to Nicholaw’s memory; it includes a
tribute and a fascinating look at Nicholaw and KNX as an all-news powerhouse. My
favorite Nicholaw quote:

“I formatted the station in my own mind to
follow a newspaper. A food section was part of a newspaper and there was a drama
section. You name it and I tried to do it. I even had a horoscope. We were
journalists and I figured that whatever a newspaper was doing we ought to be
doing the same damn thing. That’s how that started. The food news hour started
with Mike Roy and Denny Bracken.”

You can still read the tribute in the site’s
archives.

Rich Retirement

Rich “Brother” Robbin, who made his name in Los
Angeles on K-100 (KIQQ, now KSWD 100.3 FM), Ten Q (KTNQ, 1020 AM) and KKDJ (now
KIIS-FM, 102.7) as well as in San Diego via KCBQ (1070 AM) and others, has
decided to hang up his headphones permanently. His retirement from San Diego’s
XHPRS (The Walrus, 105.7 FM) was effective August 8th.

Robbin is a tremendously talented DJ and
programmer, and his retirement is well-deserved. Still, it is a sad reminder of
what radio once was and is rarely now: exciting, professional, and
competitive.

True to form, Robbin is positive about his
retirement. “When you get to this point in life you change ... emotions shift
... I began to see what mattered and what didn't, and what matters now is more
time with friends, the beach (both walking and sitting), sometimes doing nothing
but for sure, no more radio,” he told me.

His flashback internet station RichBroRadio.Com continues for now, but it’s
month to month, he says. Speaking of which, you might got there now ... while
you still can. It’s a fun oldies stream with classic jingles to
match.

///

August 8, 2014

Blood Drive Success

KLOS (95.5 FM) had another hugely successful
blood drive at the end of July. The five-day event collected almost 8000 (I am
told it was just shy of 7900) units of blood at 20 locations throughout Southern
California.

This is the 33rd year KLOS has hosted the drive,
and is consistently one of the country’s most successful drives of its type
anywhere.

Openings at KFWB

Perhaps the new all sports format won’t
necessarily be the awful CBS Sports Radio syndicated format everyone, including
me, is predicting for KFWB (980 AM) when they change this coming September.
Employment opportunities included, among other things, on-air talent (at least
as of press time) at http://kfwbam.com/job-openings-at-kfwb.
Would be nice to see a local focus at least part of the day.

Anniversary

It was 33 years ago when MTV -- Music Television
-- made its debut on cable companies across America. The exact date was August
1st, 1981.

For those under 40, MTV once played what was
called “music videos.” Hosted by “VJs” Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, Nina
Blackwood, Martha Quinn (all of whom can be found on SiriusXM’s “80s on 8”
Channel 8) and the late, great JJ Jackson, the channel quickly became a
trendsetter for music, breaking both songs and new bands.

I’m not sure anyone seriously thought MTV would
“kill” radio, though the first song played on the network was the Buggles’
“Video Killed the Radio Star.” What happened instead is that MTV either helped
or was part of a resurgence of top-40 radio. Across the country, stations like
KIIS-FM (102.7) started dominating the ratings just as MTV was taking flight.
Coincidence? Probably not.

For the same reason that a format paradox often
exists in radio, in which two competing stations actually build an audience
together that is higher for both than each station would do in a format
exclusively, MTV brought attention back to popular music after years of decline
in the popularity of top-40.

And since interest in popular music was on the
rise due to the popularity of music videos on MTV as well as local shows ... but
you could not take your TV in your car or to school ... radio was able to
capitalize and build on that popularity. KIIS set FM ratings records for the
era, all the while competitors such as KIQQ (now KSWD, 100.3 FM) and alternative
stations such as KROQ (106.7 FM) did quite well too. It was a fun time for both
music and radio. Not necessarily cause and effect, mind you, but they MTV and
radio did seem to help each other.

Unfortunately, MTV is nothing more than a
stomping ground for half-baked reality programs these days. And traditional
top-40 radio -- the type that plays the best of all popularity musical genres?
Dead as a doornail. Weird ...

Assistant

Neil Saavedra -- host of KFI’s (640 AM) Fork
Report and The Jesus Show -- has been named assistant programmer of the
top-rated talk station, reporting to Program Director Robin
Bertolucci.